Well, hello, we are back again
and we are fired up.
And I love your sweater over there.
Thank you.
Stars on at the Pop Stars movies.
We're going to eat some of this popcorn
as well.
Yes, yes. One I love kettle corn.
Yeah. That's.
Oh, but I only got one for me.
Okay, you can have popcorn, ladies.
We could share. Okay.
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Welcome to
what's good with John and Joyce.
And the kettle corn is not the only thing,
but we're going to be talking
about movies, so we might throw
some other things in there too Rick.
Maybe some theater that we like or.
Yeah, I don't want to do that
because a lot of these
theatrical productions have become,
you know, movies.
Yeah,
they do whatever they make me for a lady.
Yeah.
My Fair Lady, which I saw
recently, is the Iverson Playhouse,
and I was in Connecticut, Jackie Hubbard
doing such great work there.
Broadway
caliber talent in our own backyard. Joyce.
But so what's going to be John and Joyce?
Available and all streaming platforms.
You know, subscribe and tell everybody
about, you know, the show.
It's all good news and all good.
No negativity, no politics. Okay.
Right. All right.
And on my list, there's no horror movies.
So for you people who love horror movies,
you won't get it from me.
You love horror movies?
I like some of them.
When I was younger, back in the day,
I loved Nightmare on Elm Street,
I loved Halloween,
oh no, no, I can't watch them anymore,
but I did back then as a teenager.
Yeah, and that stays with me.
I yeah, I don't want those seeds
being implanted in me right now.
I want to focus on more positive.
I like a good psychological thriller.
Yes, I do courtroom drama.
Yes, you like that.
But I like more dramas, more adventures.
Right?
I kind of know that as I've gotten older.
What's the last movie you saw?
Like movie theater you saw?
Oh, it's been a while as a since I didn't.
Yeah, but in the movies,
like, maybe it was a marvel comics
adventure movie
or oh, How to Train Your Dragon.
Oh, yeah.
The new I Don't Know
How to Train Your Dragon movies.
Those are so much fun.
Stream must be streaming now.
Yeah, yeah, well,
I like a lot of the animated movies
that have adult themes to them,
and I love all the Marvel comic movies.
Spider-Man,
Iron Man, that's the kidding me, right?
They have good stories.
Yeah. It's
not just you know, all special effects.
There's really good stories.
And even my wife watch them.
So, yeah, it's pretty cool
and pretty cool, right?
Yeah. I know
you love a lot of the classic stuff, Tom.
My gosh.
Yeah.
I'm I'm going to take you back
to the classics.
And I'm hoping
some of you have never heard of it.
Will jot it down and check it out.
And I had someone say to me years ago
when I mentioned a movie and said, choice.
I wasn't even born at that time. Why?
You know, I don't know about it.
And I said I wasn't born
when Gone With the wind came out.
I wasn't born when Shakespeare wrote
Romeo and Juliet and, you know, so
so we were talking, you know, off,
off, off air about this Christmas time.
Right.
What do they play all the time?
Bing Crosby, white Christmas.
Yes. Nat King Cole. Right.
Sinatra a lot of people are not weren't
born Johnny Mathis,
but they listen to them
because everything oldies new again
to a whole new generation.
And it's okay.
It's okay to embrace something new.
And it's really okay to go back
and I'll tell you some of the best actors
or actors in general.
They know these old movies.
They do because
especially the black and white ones
where the, you know,
they work with shadows.
And that just meant,
I don't know, it's just different
has a different love,
like, like even black and white photo
is because they're so dramatic. Yes.
I love to see a black and white photo
because it makes everybody look classic.
Yeah, it really does.
The Alfred Hitchcock movies.
Oh, he used that black and white
and his movies were thrillers
without the gore.
Yeah, you thought about it.
It's like I used to love watching Twilight
Zone.
Oh, but Rod Serling, because it made you
think it wasn't like in your face, per se.
Yeah. That's. You use your imagination.
Yeah.
I'll never forget the one to serve, man.
Yeah, I'm a bit
I remember that I do where they landed
and we find out at the end
she's saying, don't get on the plane.
It's,
there's always a
moral at the end of the shows
when they thought William Shatner
was crazy because of the the the
what do they call it?
No mercy. Yeah. What are the.
No, I can't remember, but I know for me,
Shatner was on Twilight Zone a few times.
Rod Serling really liked him.
Yeah, I remember the one with the,
jukebox or something.
Right. Like the song.
But it had a devil's head on it.
Yes it did.
Oh my gosh.
All right.
But we're talking movies.
They did make Twilight Zone movies.
So just to be fair.
Okay, there was a Twilight Zone movie
that I saw, I think came out in the 80s,
and that's where one of the lead actors,
very famous actor, to pass away
or was headed by a helicopter scene,
like Vietnam scene.
No, I remember that. Yeah.
I'm so sorry, I can't remember.
Sorry about that, but but,
you know, I'm more positive note here.
What's good with John and Joyce now?
So I'll tell you what's good
if you want a really funny movie.
And I saw the play, as a matter of fact,
at the Shubert at one time.
Arsenic and Old Kosher
arsenic and Old Ice with Cary Grant.
It is so funny.
It's like it's something like you wouldn't
expect to see him in, although he did do
some silly movies, but this one is clever,
so I like when it's cleverly done.
And it was really, like you said, out
of context in some ways for Cary Grant.
Yeah.
Oh, he's a suave guy, you know. Right.
But he could do anything, you know?
And I think I have that
maybe in both of my books that I love
what he said, that he was never Cary Grant
because he was Archibald Leach.
That's his real name.
And it doesn't look like an Archibald.
No, he often does it.
But he was a real Cockney, you know.
You know, British kid.
Tough, tough upbringing.
And then he joined
the circus, came to America.
He gets kind of discovered,
you know, he's got these little roles.
And then they started saying, you know,
he's got like, leading man type qualities.
And so this quote from him is that,
you know, I never was Cary Grant, but
I played him long enough so that one day
when I woke up, I was Cary Grant.
So I always say that to people to emulate
what you want to be,
even though you may not feel you're there.
But think about it.
Because whatever you keep thinking about
and doing and talking about,
you'll become that good or bad.
You can manifest your whole reality. Good.
Because we talk about the brain
all the time, the way it's wired,
it doesn't matter
whether it's the truth or not,
it just goes by what you tell it, right?
Repeatedly.
And that's what Cary Grant did see.
And that's why I don't want to keep
watching scary movies.
Hahaha.
You don't watch Freddy Krueger over and
over again and Nightmare on Elm Street.
No, no, it did have a pretty cool
hat, though. I like the fedora.
You know,
the movie that freaked me out the most
and I really couldn't
watch the whole thing,
but it had this really, like,
visceral effect within me
was silence of the lambs,
oh God, with, blah blah blah,
but Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster
that won an Academy Award?
Yes. No, I'm sure it's a marvelous movie.
The way it was done,
but there was something about that evil
within him that I know exists
in the Ted Bundy of the world
and everything that really creeped me out
were I even to go downstairs
alone to do the laundry.
But it's like I,
I watched the movie once, was enough
for the acting, acting
and the scenes and the lighting between
Anthony Hopkins character and Jodie Foster
when they were going back and forth,
and the focus on the eyes.
Great, brilliant and right.
You know, the Hitchcock movie,
the only one that had blood in it,
but it was that The Birds?
Well, yeah, the
the birds sing a little bit,
but the one that I still can't watch
the scene is psycho.
Oh, but it's the music.
It's the music with the knife going it.
I know my I'm not watching it,
but it's, it was just,
just so beautifully done
in a horrific way.
Right.
It's like an oxymoron.
Beautifully done in a horrific way.
But Hitchcock was a genius.
Yeah, in so many ways.
Yes he was.
Yes, there was.
But more things
that don't leave me scarred.
And have a great moral ending.
Is usually the Frank Capra.
Oh, sure. Movies. Brilliant.
So I have a few of them here,
and that's Mr.
Deeds Goes to Town.
Now, this was an Oscar winner in 1936,
and it was about Longfellow Deeds.
So which played by Gary Cooper
I love Gary Gary Cooper.
Great.
And he was a great person.
If you read about his his life to him,
just another classic actor who
we did a lot of westerns too.
He did a lot of Westerns,
Alan Ladd and a lot of these, well,
he was a great person
and he had some flaws, but hey, we all do.
We all do for.
Right?
So, but he's a small town resident
and Vermont, and he's very happy
with his uncomplicated life
until he inherits a fortune.
And then his life turns upside down
when the news hits him that he has.
He's like the one of the wealthiest men
in the world.
Now, you think you make it.
A lot of money is always a good thing.
Yeah, well, that's necessarily
why you can.
This has a great ending to it.
And so watch it.
It takes it takes you through that journey
of what happens
to a person when they really are
enjoying their simple life.
And now the whole world knows
you're tremendously wealthy.
And if you don't have
any emotional maturity
to be able to handle that,
that's why so many people that win lotto.
Yeah.
Are these athletes that have these multi
million dollar contracts,
they end up losing it all.
Yes. Because they,
they don't have the the foundation
or the right people around them.
All right.
Yeah a lot of times
the right people around them.
Yeah I remember there was this woman
when I was living in Florida in 1919.
It was 2013.
And oh gosh, it was one of those days
where I played the Powerball in a Publix,
which is the big, you know, oh,
this town's down there in Florida, right?
And I woke up and I always checked
a Twitter at that time first,
and somebody wrote, and I only knew
that my Powerball number was number 11.
That's all I remember it.
And it said, oh,
the Powerball was won in Florida
and the Powerball number was 11
I oh, and for a split second
I thought,
oh my God, oh my God, is that me?
Well, here's a story about this.
It was syphilis.
I believe it's pronounced Florida.
It was an older woman
and she lived here,
you know, not a great area, almost like
like mobile home style, but,
you know, not a great area of Florida.
And she wins the biggest jackpot.
Then to date, which was like
it was maybe over $500 million.
But if you Google that today,
you will find out what happened.
And it's very,
very sad how it ripped a family apart
and and where she is today.
So that was the wrong people
coming in to manage the money.
Two sons fighting over it.
Not really taking care of her
because she said, I'll, you know, I'm.
I'll leave this with you, but I don't ever
want to go into a nursing home.
I want to stay, you know, here
and her life did not end up that way.
And she ended up in mostly
living in court.
Wow. So, that when you spoke about that
new money coming in.
Yeah, yeah.
And the motive and intent has to be right.
You know, when you have that money
and and too many people try to say, oh,
what's in it for me?
What's in it for me? I mean, nothing
wrong with money in itself.
Yeah, it's the love of money and the greed
and everything else that comes into play.
She had a very good heart
because no one really knew who she was.
And she moved to a gated community
with her son,
and, and, everyone there in this gated
community were pretty wealthy,
so they're not bothering anyone else.
But she would go to a local diner,
and they knew it was her
because when she left,
everyone's bill was paid.
Wow. So she had the good heart.
But others around her did not.
I love to hear about that.
Like over the holidays a lot.
Somebody pays somebody their lay away
with, just pays off their bills.
They just. God, that would be me.
Yeah. Me too. Horrible digging up.
But getting back to, like, you know,
favorite movies again.
Like, my my sweet spot choices
like the 80s and 90s movies.
I mean, I like what I love Toy Story,
I love I love all the Indiana Jones movie.
Oh, I love the Michael Douglas movies
and the Richard Gere movies
and a lot of these kind of like,
just really good crime drama thrillers.
They really give me, you know, like Killer
Rays and Al Pacino and Tom cruise.
Did you follow all the Matrix movie?
I did?
Oh, good.
Great. Great movies. Just love them.
But I was watching, I mean, a really
well-done movie, but kind of freaky.
The devil's advocate.
We can't abuse reason, al Pacino. Oh, yes.
Oh, my.
I mean, just
just think that was like 1997.
Yeah.
Just watching back and forth between the
two of them at the end of the movie. Yes.
When he finds out that, you know,
the devil is his dad.
Yeah.
You know, Keanu Reeves character and,
but yeah, you know, go watch the movie
if you haven't already.
I don't want to spoil it for you,
but just the interplay.
I think you just spoil.
Yeah, I guess I did.
Sorry about that, but watch it anyway.
But also, like, you know, with Tom cruise
and Jack Nicholson with a few good men,
you can't handle the truth.
Yeah.
One of the great lines of all time. Yes.
Over overreach.
So I love the courtroom dramas.
Right. The drama between all that. Right.
And the courtroom stuff, too.
You know, there's that classic movie
12 Angry Men.
Yes, yes, that really just takes place
right in the jury room.
And the whole movie is based just there.
There's not much of a set at all, right?
But it's so heavily character based
that it's just if you love movies
and you love acting and all that,
that is a great one to watch.
Like special effects,
they just focus on their facial reactions.
And yes, the dialog black and white.
Yeah. Yep. Tremendous stuff.
Yeah.
And the influence other people
could have on each other just right.
But I still love a lot of the
like I like Ghostbusters, I loved, yeah,
all the Ghostbusters movies.
And you know,
I liked Footloose and Flashdance
and a lot of those musicals, Fast Times
at Ridgemont High back in the 80s and 90s,
you know, and, your Breakfast Club craze,
because the soundtracks
were really good, too.
Oh, yeah.
The soundtrack was back in the 80s, 90s,
you know, I just had great movies,
but great music soundtracks, too. Yeah.
So maybe we're jiggling your minds
a little better or thinking,
I gotta watch that again,
because you just reminded me
of Simple ways to Patriot Games.
Harrison Ford.
Wow. Andy. Oh. What about that one
great movie?
Here's another one that he was in,
and I think, was called Henry.
Henry. That was a good movie.
That was very different for him.
It was very, very different for him.
But that was one of those movies
where he just kind of fascinated by it.
And the one movie
you remind me of during this time, too,
that the ending really blew me away,
and some people
still haven't seen it
and don't really know the ending.
Oh. Wait a minute.
So the famous line from the movie is I see
the sixth sense,
the sixth sense with Bruce Willis.
So I watched it with Wayne in the movie
theater.
We went like, what? Yeah.
And then we went back and watched it
again, knowing the ending.
Right.
So it was even more fascinating
the second time to say, oh,
and I'd
also like don't look into the light.
Poltergeist.
That's a great movie.
That's one of my favorite.
I had to say, like ghost movies.
I thought that was so, so well done.
But show Beth Williams.
Yeah. JoBeth
Williams and a great Craig Nelson.
Yeah. Wow.
And Craig
Nelson was recently in that movie
I was talking about,
The Devil's Advocate two.
He played the movie as well.
Yeah, he played coach for a year.
He was here, so, so.
Oh, that's so good.
But I'm going to.
Oh, wow.
Maybe I'll watch Carrie Ann.
But, you know, it's so sad to say that,
you know,
she died too young, and so did
the other girl who played the daughter.
I know, which made me.
Makes you kind of sad
when you watch a lot of these movies now
and you find out that a lot of these,
they were very young at the time,
they're not with us anymore.
You realize how precious life is.
Scared me a little bit because I thought
the ghost attached themselves to them.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No. Now it's just like a coincidence.
Sure, maybe.
But we were talking about classic movies
and the one movie when I was young.
It just never.
It was too long.
I didn't want to watch it.
Maybe some of you felt this way, too.
It's a Wonderful Life now.
It is such a classic.
But when I got older,
I watched it from beginning to end
and it's like, wow, what a story!
With age comes wisdom. What a story.
So I got just a little backstory on this
when it was approaching
its 50th anniversary,
I wanted to do, a tribute to it.
So I contacted Republic Pictures
who had now had the rights to it.
And this is when it became a public
domain. Yeah.
And I met with them in New York,
and I came with
a, a board game
and that I had a prototype
made up and a cookbook
that I wrote, like, what would they be
eating and, like, at Mr.
Gower's house or Mr.. You know, whatever.
Oh, and I had all these recipes made up.
I had like, all kinds of, you know, books.
The cookbooks were actually completed
and they loved it.
They loved it.
I thought this was it.
I mean, not only like,
it wasn't for the money, it was for.
I'm like, involved with my favorite movie.
And then guess what happened?
Which I don't blame them.
I had to let go of all this.
The one surviving member.
Zuzu. Zuzu?
The little girl who plays Suzu.
I can't remember her name right now.
Sorry, but they gave it to her
and all of a sudden Zuzu had the idea of
doing a board game in a cookbook.
Oh geez.
But you know.
But you were, you know, given
the great stuff happens, right? Yeah.
Stuff happened, so I've happened. But.
But that's a classic. Watch it.
I really watch it.
The acting is tremendous by Jimmy Stewart
and Donna Reed.
Donna Reed remember her
TV show? Yes. Yeah.
But another one of my favorites is up.
Yeah. This animated movie.
Did it not touch your office?
Touched your heart in every single way.
But as far as it really touched my heart.
And I'm sure you, Joyce, because we both
can relate to losing a loved one. Yes.
And when I saw that part, I lost it.
Yeah, yeah, I lost it, you know?
So it makes me terrible
if they think about it.
Yeah. Me too.
But, but,
but there was a lot of joy in that movie
as to just honoring those who went before
us, by the way we live our lives and.
Yeah, yeah, but every time I watch
that, it just it gets me.
Well that's what I mean about movies.
It evokes a lot of emotion
but a lot of hope.
And then knowing that movies
capture all our emotions.
Yeah. We're not alone.
We all go through the ups
and downs and lives.
And that's why it's so important
to let people know,
hey, listen,
I know how you feel and be there for them.
Yes, because you know how they feel.
We do. We do.
But but getting back to, you know, to to,
you know, fun stuff again.
I mean, I loved a lot of those
even some of the 70s stuff,
you know, American Graffiti
because, you know, it was music.
Oh yeah. And it was light.
It was fun.
You kind of like, And Happy Days was kind
of a takeoff of American Graffiti.
That's terrific about it.
And of course, is, you know, 2025
being the 50th anniversary of
George was in June,
June, June, June, June.
Yeah.
You know, the tourist industry
didn't like that
when it came out in the summer 75
because nobody was swimming.
But, you know, seeing I didn't
watch the 50th anniversary.
I thought, you know,
once or twice was enough, you know.
No, I don't need to see that now.
Yeah. The first one was the best one.
It was, it was. Yeah, yeah.
So I'm going to take you back now
to 1942, 1942.
This is a movie that maybe,
maybe many of you haven't seen,
or you saw the name
and you didn't know what it was about,
but it was a saying that
my mother used to say, and I didn't know.
And but she meant to tell.
I really watched the movie.
It would be like
if someone stayed at your house too long.
Company was too long.
She would say, oh,
it's like the man who came to dinner.
And I thought, oh, does that mean
when the actor Monty Woolley,
Monty Woolley,
who played that part,
the interesting thing about Monty,
Monty Woolley could Google him
because he was a professor at Yale.
Exactly. Brilliant, right?
He didn't start acting till later in life.
And he actually did the,
the play
first for the man who came to dinner,
and they brought him over to the screen
and boy, does it work.
Now, a lot of the references
there are in that time.
So when Eleanor
Roosevelt calls the house or
and anything like that, he,
he was the radio star.
He was like a world wide radio star.
And who,
the people, you know, like I said,
even the presidents knew him, plural.
And our Roosevelt being FDR, his wife, for
some who may not remember that far back,
but,
well, read about it, because there's a lot
I didn't remember about about FDR
until now.
It really was like, I don't know,
I just watched documentary on PBS,
so I learned even more about what
a fantastic person he was.
And again, flaws, yes.
But what he did for the country
with Social Security
and all of that and having polio where,
you know, that's back in the day where you
you could get away without the public
really knowing how bad you were.
Otherwise it wouldn't vote for you
because, you know, since
Kennedy, I guess they sort of voting on
looks and things like that,
but they started judging people,
I should say.
But, good not to be judged
and just hear what you did.
A sidebar with that to the folks
who watched the,
debate with John F Kennedy
and Richard Nixon thought Kennedy won
the people who listened to it
on the radio.
But Nixon.
Nixon won. Yeah. That's something. Yeah.
And yeah, optics kept JFK.
You know, he had looks
you know the charisma.
He he did he did.
So the but the man who came to dinner,
the dialog is so fast
and so witty and so sharp.
It's tough to say
you have to watch it again.
Oh, I have written down things,
like mom to Willie as.
Who did you play?
Sheridan Whiteside? Sure.
He just an
incredible, incredible character
that he played.
And the ending is just so fun.
The whole movie makes me laugh.
It's my feel good movie.
If I want to feel good,
I'm going to I'm going to find this.
And they usually play it at Christmas time
as the rapid fire delivery.
Like it reminds me of Robin Williams.
Yes, I was so hard to keep up
with that man.
The way his brain worked, the way he wired
Billy Crystal, right?
Oh, those people just so fast.
Yeah. So they were great friends.
They were really good friends. Yeah,
but my all time favorite movie.
Joyce. Yes.
Tell me you know, is this really heaven?
No. It's Iowa.
Oh. If you build it,
they will come giant field
of field of dreams.
I fall in love. That movie.
It's like our no.
Speak about it more because I remember
Michael Bolton loving that movie.
Also,
I watch it, and then here we go again.
I'm going to I think about
when he was playing ball with his dad.
That's. Yeah.
It's nice that men have them there
because my dad will work
really hard, real blue collar guy.
Made sure all of us kids have whatever
we need it.
Again, lots of flaws, like we all have,
but I love them dearly.
I honor him, but he would come home after
a long day working for the UI company.
He was he was a, you know, a guy
that worked up on the wires,
you know, a lineman.
And he would play ball with me.
And you see, let's get out
and you get them.
And I just.
I was a pitcher in baseball, and we'd,
And he was tired,
but he took 15 to 20 minutes.
You can relate to that. Yeah.
So when I see it, my wife
goes, okay, here we go.
Here comes the tissue box again.
And as I get older,
I get more and more emotional.
Yeah, I find that too, because you realize
that we're not here forever.
We're not here for.
And in these moments means so much.
Each moment.
Each moment is love.
I say let him know, guys.
Let you know the movie that I cry out
because reminds me of my grandparents.
Because my grandparents came from Austria
and they had the accent
is I remember mama, with Irene Dunne,
and I haven't heard that name.
Yeah, yeah, it was Irene Dunne.
It was just really good story.
It's good storytelling
and about a family working together
and working
hard to make things happen for their kids.
And,
just a really good, good story there.
Again, through the holidays, you'll see
TCM running Meet Me in Saint Louis.
Oh, that which I love.
I see the Bishop's wife.
I've seen the play, you know, to,
you know, meet me in Saint Louis.
Be me in Saint Louis.
And the music. Yes. Fabulous.
The bell ringing.
And Judy Garland was great in that movie.
Super talent.
Everyone was. But it's a good story. It's.
I don't even think of it
as a musical, per se,
because there was so much great
storytelling in between, right.
With the grandfather.
And the drama was really, really good.
You know, music
in the background there. Right.
But but I love the a lot of the,
like even the Tommy Lee Jones movies.
I was always a big fan of his stuff,
you know, like, when he did The Fugitive,
The Fugitive, Harrison Ford
remake of that, that TV series.
Yeah. And there are certain shows.
What a great actor,
Tommy Lee Jones really fantastic.
And I just loved watching, you know,
come to America with Eddie Murphy.
Yeah.
And some of the,
the movies with Nick Nolte,
you know, back, back in the 80s
that, like the Beverly Hills Cop movies
and some of those movies, it just made you
you want to feel good, right?
And the soundtracks are great, and it's
just fun interplay between the actors.
Yes. I just want to give a shout out
to Wayne's daughter, my stepdaughter.
I like to now call her my bonus daughter.
I love her, Denise.
And she said to mention like My Fair Lady,
which we did, and South Pacific.
Yeah. Sound of music. Music. Yeah. Yes.
Great soundtracks
make you feel really good.
And the soundtrack
of The Sound of Music is.
What's the soundtrack of your life?
Tell us.
Right, right. Yeah. Let us know.
Let us know what your favorite movies are
and and,
maybe we'll do this again down the line.
And again, just let us know what
you like us to talk about and what's good.
Because without you, we don't have a show.
And we really appreciate you. Right.
So, yeah, we're going to be here talking
whether you're here or not.
This conversation will continue
after the show here.
So subscribe to What's Good with John and
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And thank you once again for tuning in
and, you know, bless you and your family.
We love you. Well, bye for now.
If you build it, they will come. That's
that ending.
Me too. Me too.